On the importance of...informative video content.

It is a broadly recognised fact that the internet is awash with silly videos. Some good silly, some dumb-silly, some how-the-eff-did-we-ever-find-this-amusing-in-2009 silly. There's nothing wrong with silly internet videos; indeed, anything that can lighten the mood in an environment known for the snarky, offensive or outright idiotic content of its comment sections is welcomed in my book – and hey, Ari and I admit to having watched a fair few cat videos in our time-, but it's always refreshing to stumble upon a Youtube channel where the content is based around entertaiment and information. Whenever I find myself in this awesome realm of the internet, I click the subscribe button pretty much instantly, because so much of our online content is not informative or thought-provoking, doesn't challenge us intellectually, and may even be detrimental to our the way our memory functions 

Now, I'm not trying to be a party pooper here, and I don't believe that all online video should teach us something and be oh-so-serious, but I am interested in more people utilising the internet to engage their own brains, instead of choosing to wile away every free moment in that rather silly part of YouTube. 

The Ideas Channel creates exactly the kind of videos I'm talking about; it's entertaining, funny, culturally relevant, fast-paced and informative. Each video presents a completely different idea from the last and is then proposed to the viewer, and at the end of each video, interesting comments are read from those who commented previously, giving viewers a reason to share their opinions and ideas too. There have been videos on everything from the ethics of AI development, pondering our love of zombies, and whether or not animal crossing promotes the Otaku lifestyle. While not strictly factual, the ideal channel forces us to think and to question, which is pretty important after watching all those kitty videos.

If the name is not explanatory, SciShow is a YouTube channel that explains and answers the big questions. Black holes, dark matter, whether we're all going to augment ourselves with flashy gadgets one day, and why the hell everyone was so obsessed with flappy bird (as in, the scientific reasoning. Ehem, yes...) 

Crash course videos focus on providing step-by-step education on a bunch of topics, from literature to the sciences to psychology to history, making them ideal study aids for students.

The Art Assignment is a new channel supported by PBS, intended to create interactive art projects for the viewers to undertake themselves. In their own words, the Art Assignment plans to 'take you around the U.S. to meet working artists and solicit assignments from them that we can all complete.'

 Game Theorists is basically what it sounds like. A channel that features videos discussing various theories and trivia about video games, from retro platformers to modern FPS games, these videos will have you wondering why you never thought of that before... Particularly chilling is the video suggesting that Portal's companion cubes contain the remains of actual people. 

Mental Floss describes itself as 'a weekly series where knowledge junkies get their fix of trivia-tastic information!', and that pretty much nails it. If you're the type who collects and hordes random and obscure factoids in the corner of your brain and delight in interjecting with those factoids whenever you can (and we're totally not judging you for this. Sometimes there are lulls in the conversation!) Mental Floss may just be for you. 

Okay, this one has George Takei in it...What? That's not enough incentive for you to click the link? Really?

Admittedly the author of this article is a huge Nerdfighter, but whether you are or not – and it's probably only a matter of time, honestly-, the Vlogbrothers channel is worth checking out. In addition to their usual twice weekly vlogs where brothers John and Hank Green discuss whatever the hell they feel like, which can sometimes include Fitness For Nerds or having 17 rants, the made-of-awesome creators of this incredibly popular channel also discuss some really important and thought-provoking stuff:   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXAoG8vAyzI&index=6&list=PLMs_JcuNozJYGiolArnu7ACeVc7qOn8Dq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4ow-EZkLjg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kQ1Po7vzUk

What, you still want a dumb video, after all of my efforts? 

 

The Xbox One and the cost of modern gaming,

Interested in being featured on a new blog about geek culture? Me & Ari are welcoming submissions for a feature/review/interview post on our blog about your geeky blog/shop/hobby/other nerdy type interest!If you're interested, email geekyfemmes@gmail.com with details of what you'd like to be featured and we'll get back to you!

Gina here! So tell me, how many of you like gaming?

Gaming isn't so accessible when you're down on cash. Actually, gaming isn't really so accessible for anyone who doesn't have a lot of spare money. Period. As gaming gains constant popularity, particularly in regards to the use of consoles, more and more young people are getting involved. With the upcoming release of the Xbox One console, I'm asking whether the gaming industry is cheating itself, and its followers.

As someone who held her first controller at around the age of 5, I've been privileged enough to keep up with the release of new consoles as I've grown up. The Sega Megadrive, the PlayStation 1, 2 and an Xbox 360 were (and some still are) fixtures of my living room, but it seems that the more advanced the technology becomes, the more expensive it gets, and the more publishers and hardware companies find new ways to increase their profits. My first brush with the competitive world of the online gaming community was after I received a month's free Xbox Live subscription with my console. I enjoyed the wonders of being able to connect and play against gamers around the world; it was like something my young 8 year old self would have idly dreamed up while wishing I had a constant friend who would take up their post in controller port number 2. I vastly enjoyed the experience and the challenge of Live gaming, and after the free subscription finished I purchased another year of it for around £50. It's true, I did grit my teeth as I handed over my hard-won allowance money, and after that year was up, I didn't subscribe again.

As a young person, employed or not, you're not going to have a whole heap of cash available to throw at your chosen console company. I found that the expenses encompassed in owning an Xbox 360 and buying regular games were on the less-manageable side of my budget spectrum, though I could manage if I only bought new games occasionally, very rarely buying games at their new-to-the-shelves retail price of around the £40 mark. Now however, with the soon to be released Xbox One console, I find myself for the first time at a crossroads; I'm unsure of where my gaming future will take me, or even if it will continue to be, as it always has been, on consoles. With the inevitability that my 360 console will one day become completely obsolete and the publishing of new games for it will cease, (possibly at an increasingly fast pace as the new console is not backwards compatible) the likelihood of me purchasing an Xbox One console seems to be slim-to-none.

When the Xbox 360 Arcade console was released in October 2007 as the most affordable model of the 360 system, its asking price was around £183. It had several other, more expensive predecessors , the most expensive of all being originally priced at around £260. So way back when it was released and in high demand, the most advanced Xbox 360 console with the most capabilities and memory cost £260. To pre-order the new Xbox One on Amazon, complete with the Kinnect sensor will set you back £599.

Now, I'm well aware that as technology advances, so too must the complexity of the systems and thus the price increases – at least for the first year or so -, but the people at Microsoft clearly saw that their premium 360 console was out of a lot of gamers budgets, and so created another two, more modestly priced options for those with less cash. Will this happen for the Xbox One? Well, we don't know yet, but since this is the most expensive Xbox console bundle to date, it's doubtful that any possible future options will be as affordable.

There are ways that gamers try to cut down on spending, and a primary option for many of us that has exploded in the last several years is the second-hand gaming market. Here, gamers can purchase second-hand, traded-in games for a fraction of the retail price, but they likely won't be doing that for much longer if they're avid followers of the Xbox console evolution. Why? Because it's been heavily hinted at that the Xbox One will include a software that detects when you load an already-played disk into the drive, and will charge you an additional fee for its usage. Will it be a small fee, or the full retail price of the game? We don't know yet, as little information has been released about the gaming aspect of the console, but it's an action that, if taken, will alienate and possibly completely prevent gamers from buying Microsoft's new Xbox One consoles. Let's say you pay that £600 for the new console: you then have to purchase some games to play, and if it doesn't cost any less buying used games, that will be £30-£40 per game, and then you get an Xbox live subscription. That will be a minimum of £50 for a year. So a rough estimate of your total costs would bring you to around the £690 mark for a console and kinnect, a year of live and a single game retailing around the £40 mark. Wow.

Obviously there's a lot that we still don't know about the console, and there are a lot of cool features that will surely be integrated into the system (I think the whole 'snap' idea is pretty cool, assuming it isn't laggy and difficult to initiate), but what I do know is that a lot of people are going to be put off, if not literally unable to afford buying the new console and any additional accessories and games. And that sucks. It truly does. I've never been in the position of not knowing how I'll be able to play games in the future, and it's not a fun position to be in. My faint hope is that the console giants will take a moment to think about their younger players, and their players who don't have a large chunk of disposable income that they can afford to spend on video games. 

Feminist book review: She's such a Geek

We're back!

Wow, what an unexpected hiatus! Unfortunately I've been busy with other personal stuff lately and this blog just slipped to the back of my mind! Oops. Anyway, I'd like to announce that myself and Ari will be posting a lot more regularly over the next few weeks, and I hope you forgive us both! For now, please enjoy my review of a great book entitled She's such a Geek. 

  

For me, reading She's Such A Geek was stumbling upon a literary treasure trove of inspiration and hope. Far removed from a narrative, She's Such A Geek is an anthology of first-hand experiences of the trials and tribulations of being a woman in science, technology, video games and comic books. If you have a young woman in your family who has aspirations of a job in these fields (or you are one yourself): buy this book.

The real life experiences shared by the women in this book are both inspiring and realistic, offering a truthful insight that expresses the happiness that following a passion (no matter what your gender) can offer you, and exposes the negatives that the male-exclusivity of the geek world can have upon a female interested in the culture. Adding to its credit, the book displays a fantastic and very admirable diversity in its contributors, showcasing the experiences of white women, women of colour and varied ethnicities, handicapped women and, wonderfully, a transgendered woman. This progressive viewpoint is a rare and valued encouragement for geeky ladies who are wary of being discriminated against for their race, disability or gender, and proclaims 'you are not alone!'

The women in this book have been top of their calculus class, they've been the lone girl in their circle of gamers, they've been to MIT, they're been in system administration, they've developed video games, they're engineers and comic book creators. They've invaded every corner of the geeky spectrum and they are damn good at what they do. This book is a call to arms for all female nerds, and a reassurance that they can be part of their scientific field of choosing, they just have to work hard, and watch out for bigots. I highly recommend this book as truly inspirational reading, and whether you're a coder or a kick ass biologist, there is room for you in the world of geekery.

Buy She's Such A Geek; where women meet adversity and say 'bring it on!'